Orbit Airlines Flight 774
Orbit Airlines Flight 774 was a scheduled passenger flight from Vancouver International Airport in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Long Beach International Airport in Long Beach, California. On 27 December, 1996, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 flying the route crashed into the Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington, while attempting to land at nearby Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, killing all 139 passengers and crew on board. Investigations carried out by the National Transportation Board (NTSB) with assistance from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) discovered that the crash was caused by a fire that started in the front of the aircraft (possibly behind the cockpit) that quickly grew uncontrollable and burned through wires powering many crucial flight deck control surfaces and instruments. The cause of the fire was determined to be an electrical arcing event that occurred as a result of wear and tear on the aircraft's electrical wiring. Basic Details Date: 27 December, 1996 Survivors: 0 Fatalities: 139 (All) Site: Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington, USA Conclusion: In-flight fire Aircraft ''Orbit Airlines Flight 774 '''Date:' 27 December, 1996 Operator: Orbit Airlines Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Registration: N39014 Passengers: 133 Crew: 6 Origin: Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Destination: Long Beach International Airport, Long Beach, California, USA Survivors: 0 Fatalities: 139 (All) Aircraft and Crew The involved aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (Reg. N39014). Manufactured in Long Beach in January 1979, it had its first flight on 6 July, 1979, amd was delivered to Orbit Airlines in 1980. In 1989, the aircraft was leased to Airwave Airlines and it flew with that airline until 1991. The aircraft underwent a minor cockpit renovation in March 1992 before being returned to Orbit Airlines the next month. The crew on board the flight consisted of 47-year-old Captain Jack Ferguson, 40-year-old First Officer Franco DeRossi, and 4 flight attendants. Captain Ferguson had logged more than 23,000 flight hours in MD-80 aircraft, and was also an instructor pilot for the type. First Officer DeRossi had accquired over 19,000 flight hours in MD-80 aircraft. The airplane's most recent maintenance check occured on September 18, 1996. Flight and Crash Events Orbit Flight 774 departed Vancouver International Airport at around 5:19 PM Pacific Daylight Time, bound for Long Beach International Airport, California. The weather conditions on the evening of December 27, 1996 were clear skies with calm surface winds blowing southeast at 1.2 mph. The flight was uneventful until sometime around 5:58 PM, when the pilots detected an odor reminiscent of smoke in the cockpit. The flight crew did not immediately deem the situation to be of any major concern and simply dismissed the odor as smoke coming from inside the recirculating fans in the ceiling. At 6:05 PM, just as the plane was crossing into Washington, the smell of smoke in the cockpit began to grow stronger, at which the pilots became more concerned about the situation. They then notified air traffic control (ATC) and issued a pan radio call, implying that there was a problem of utmost importance, but not yet an emergency (denoted by a mayday call), which would imply immediate danger on board the aircraft. ATC controllers acknowledged the call and asked if they required an immediate diversion to an airport, to which the pilots declined. At about 6:10 PM, the flight crew notified ATC of seeing smoke emitting from the cockpit wall panels and air vents and requested a diversion to nearby Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. At around this time, the MD-80 was cruising at 32,000 feet and was 73 miles away from Seattle. ATC granted permission to the flight crew and instructed them to descend to 14,600 feet. As the plane began its descent, the flight crew took the precaution of turning off the recirculating fans in the cabin to prevent smoke from seeping into there. However, this proved futile and thick smoke began pouring into the cabin through the air vents and wall panels. Inside the cockpit, many of the plane's circut breakers started popping and the master breaker alarm sounded. Then, one by one, several key flight deck instruments and other components began to fail. The autopilot disconnected approxamately 120 seconds after the master breaker alarm went off. This forced the pilots to manually fly the plane by hand, which exerted a great amount of energy to keep the plane stable. Soon after, the Engine Instrument and Cabin Alert System (EICAS) failed, followed by the main generators, APU, and finally the primary flight display, leaving the flight crew blind. The crew told air traffic control that they lost several important flight deck controls and requested directions to Sea-Tac Airport, which at that time was 12 miles south of their current position over the Puget Sound. Also during this time, the plane was at 22,390 feet and still descending, at an estimated rate of 2,100 feet per minute, and flying in somewhat of a circular holding pattern until their assigned altitude was achieved. After a series of instruments failed, the pilots made an urgent mayday call to ATC, reporting that flames could be seen entering the cockpit through the ceiling at the rear of the aircraft. The master breaker alarm as well as passengers' calls of, "Fire! Fire!" were also heard over the radio. This was the last radio transmission recieved by ATC. According to witness reports, at around 6:24 PM, as the plane was approximately 3 miles away from the city of Seattle and travelling southeast, the plane began rolling toward the left and gradually entered a steep nose-down trajectory, plummeting at an estimated rate of descent of about 11,540 feet per minute. The MD-80 descended from around 13,300 feet to about 1,500 feet in as little as 1 1/4 of a minute and, at the time, was travelling at an estimated speed of 905 miles per hour (787 knots). It was believed that the plane became uncontrollable after the pilots became incapacitated either by fire or after exerting so much energy to keep the aircraft aloft in the flight's final moments. At 6:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time, the airplane crashed nose-first into the Puget Sound. The crash was witnessed by controllers at Sea-Tac Airport, tourists in the top of the Space Needle, and the crews of several fishing vessels within the immediate vicinity of the crash site. Search and Recovery 5 minutes after the first witness reports of a commercial plane crash, rescue personnel stationed at USCG Sector Puget Sound were dispatched to assess the crash scene. When rescue teams arrived on scene, they reported seeing nothing except several fragments of fuselage and a giant oil slick that measured an estimated 500 feet in diameter. All 139 passengers and crew on board the MD-80 were believed to have died instantly in the crash, if not incapacitated by fire and smoke beforehand. Therefore, personnel were tasked to wreckage recovery. However, adverse winter conditions common to the Pacific Northwest hampered recovery efforts for about a month and a half. On February 2, 1997, a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was sent to Seattle to assist in recovery and investigation, aided by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). By this time, around 85% of aircraft wreckage was successfully recovered from the Puget Sound. Wreckage was not fully recovered until March 13, when weather allowed recovery teams to return to the crash site. 3 days later, the wreckage was sent to Sea-Tac Airport for examination and reconstruction. Investigators began by looking at the fire-damaged cockpit as well as electrical wiring from the front of the aircraft. Almost immediately, they noticed at least 4 wires that had been nearly stripped completely of their rubber insulation. These wires powered several minor cockpit instruments and were directly wired into wires powering more important instruments and control surfaces. Investigators determined the damage to be wear and tear, but closely examined the damaged wires. Following the airframe's cockpit rennovation in 1993, some new electrical wiring meant to power the aircraft's recirculating fans was hooked up in the cockpit's attic. However, this certain wiring was dependent on power from an outside source, and was ultimately wired directly into the plane's main electrical system. The damaged wires were sent to NTSB Headquarters in Washington DC, where they underwent additional inspection. Investigators noted that the wires might have possibly experienced an electrical arcing event after the insulation was rubbed away over time. With this, the NTSB investigated then-Orbit Airlines contractor AvioTech. When confronted with this information, AvioTech denied any fault and stated that during the plane's latest safety inspection on September 18, 1996, no faults in the aircraft's wiring were detected. However after inspecting the aircraft's maintenance logs (the last entry being on 20 December, 1996), investigators discovered a discrepency. On that day, while the airplane was operating as Orbit Flight 346 from Dallas to Las Vegas, the pilots on that flight reported hearing an electrical arcing event occurring in the cockpit. Further inspection of the logs produced 6 different instances of pilots reporting electrical arcing on board the plane. With the wealth of information, investigators were led to speculate poor maintenance of the cockpit wiring was the ultimate contributing factor to the fire and crash. Investigators believe that the wires inside the cockpit attic were subjected to wear and tear and, between September and December 1996, there were 7 reports of electrical arcing in the cockpit. When Orbit Flight 774 flew on December 27, the exposed wires experienced an electrical arcing event that ultimately sparked a fire that burned through critical wires controlling the aircraft's flight control surfaces and other flammable materials in the attic. This also allowed smoke to enter the cockpit. At some point near the end of the flight, the fire spread toward the cabin of the plane, which most likely incapacitated passengers and flight attendants. Based on the overwhelming amount of evidence, on 22 August, 1997, the NTSB published their official report, stating that: "The cause of the crash of Orbit Airlines Flight 774 on December 27, 1996, was caused by a fire in the cockpit which was caused by an electrical arcing coming from poorly maintained cockpit electrical wiring." Aftermath With this official report, AvioTech admitted poor inspection and maintenance of the aircraft's electrical wiring. In a court hearing in June 1997, two of AvioTech's mechanics were found guilty of 139 counts of involuntary manslaughter in addition to negligence, and were both sentenced to 12 years in prison. However, in April 2000, this conviction was overturned. AvioTech ultimately declared bankruptcy in July 2001. The flight number for the Vancouver-Long Beach route was changed to 910 , and is currently operated by a Boeing 737-800. A permanent memorial was erected near the Space Needle on 16 March, 2002. Category:Orbit Airlines Accidents and Incidents